Speakers from the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm for the oil and gas industry, said Thursday that the energy industry's self-policing standards should serve as a model for how North Carolina can regulate natural gas exploration and "fracking."

The influential Institute sponsored presentations in Raleigh to about 100 government officials, lawmakers and industry representatives, promoting the merits of its safety standards that, according to one talking point, "represent industry's collective wisdom."

"If you take a look at these three-ring binders we have out here, you have everything you need to do it right," speaker Jeff Brami, a retired Exxon Mobilgeologist, told the assembled crowd. "The API stands for a lot of things that are right."